Introduction

The Fretwell papers include a number of listings, notes, etc
of Fretwells, who may or may not be connected with the Fretwells who originated
from the West Riding of Yorkshire. These 'other' Fretwells have been allocated
the name 'Orphans', and this section of the Web Site is devoted to them, and the
various groupings will be added as time permits.

There is a strong argument that
the Norman name Frescheville (and variants) became anglicised to Fretwell
(and variants). The Freschevilles seem to have been centred around
Derbyshire, and for some generations were the owners of Staveley Hall.
Various family researchers have attempted to link the Freschevilles with
the later day Fretwells of West Yorkshire. One
William Dickon Hoyle
(who
seems to have also used the middle name DIckens) in 1889 drew up a
document entitled Historical Memorials of the Family of Fretwell, of
Hooton Levett, from 1536 to 1750 descended from the Barons Frescheville of
Staveley near Chesterfield.

Although they did not originate in Boroughbridge, a Fretwell
family relocated to this North Yorkshire town sometime in the late 1700s. Their
main claim to fame was as lessees of the Crown Hotel, a substantial
establishment and one of a number of inns that operated in the town. The first
of the Fretwell lessees, and possibly the first lessee of the Crown, was John
Fretwell. He was succeeded by his son Richard, and then by his son-in-law, Dr
Hugh Stott.

This listing of these Nottinghamshire Fretwells was one of
the documents found in the family papers. There are no explanatory notes, to
explain why a previous researcher had gone to the trouble of compiling the list,
and, at this stage, I cannot shed any further light. Therefore, the list of
births, marriages and deaths is reproduced just as I found it.

In addition to the table, I have included a reference from
Hunter's Famillę Minorum Gentium of two Roberts and an Elizabeth Fretwell. The
family tree indicates that the Gringley Fretwells married into the Gilby and
Steer families.

The Fretwell name was not unknown in Nottinghamshire, as the1881 Censusbears
testimony. But the majority of the Fretwells listed in the Census returns were
located further south than Gringley-on-the Hill, and a large proportion of them
were connected with the mining industry.

It may be of some significance that Gringley-on-the-Hill is
close to Misterton and West Stockwith, where William Huntington came from. His
widow, Elizabeth Huntington, subsequently married Francis Fretwell. (See
Cawthorne Origins, Third
Generation). Gringley-on-the-Hill is also not too far from from
Maltby - about 13 miles to the east, along the current A631. In his Diary, James
Fretwell of Maltby notes, Sunday, September 30th 1722, that his
brother and sister went to the memorial service for William Huntington, when the
latter's body was removed from the Misterton church to the West Stockwith
church. (See the Diary Entry under the Maltby
Originspages).